There has been a lot of construction at the Juvenile Justice Center this year, resulting in a new courtroom and a new home for the JJC Clerk’s Office.
These projects officially broke ground the first of this year, but their origins can be traced as far back as 2015, when Second Judicial District Court’s Space Needs Committee recognized the need for additional courtrooms at both JJC and the downtown courthouse.
“The committee created a plan that calls for the exploration of a second courthouse given the Court’s growth and community needs,” said Presiding Children’s Court Judge Marie Ward, “but that obviously is a long-term plan. The first goal of the Court has been to ensure that we are using the space we currently have as efficiently as possible in our two locations.”
With that in mind, the committee sought a way to address the immediate need for improved safety and additional courtroom space at the JJC’s current location, where six Judicial Officers—three Judges and three Special Masters—were sharing three courtrooms. This past legislative session Children’s Court added an additional Judge.
Presiding Children’s Court Judge Marie Ward, left, and SJDC Deputy CEO Monica Rodriguez in the new courtroom at the Juvenile Justice Center. Judge Ward says the new courtroom has numerous features that make it an appropriate environment for a Children’s Court.
Ultimately, working with Bernalillo County officials, the committee devised a plan to relocate the JJC Clerk’s Office and build a new courtroom in that space. This plan, which moved the Clerk’s Office from the center of the building’s first floor to a spot near the entrance, made sense for a number of reasons.
“Having the Clerk’s Office in the center of the building made it less accessible to the public,” said Monica Rodriguez, the Court’s Deputy Chief Executive Officer, “nor did the office have adequate security for constant public interaction.”
Now, the Clerk’s Office is located near the JJC’s front entrance, adjacent to the security station where Sheriff’s Deputies check in visitors. The office now also has multiple sets of doors providing extra security, and behind those doors is new, upgraded office space for the Clerk’s Office staff.
“JJC clerks were amazing through this process,” Monica said. “The Clerk’s office had to be relocated to two separate spaces during part of the construction, which presented challenges, but the staff continued to provide excellent customer service. Their positive attitude through it was impressive.”
The Clerk’s Office moved to it new permanent space in mid-March, allowing construction of the new courtroom to begin shortly thereafter. The courtroom, which is almost ready to host its first hearing, is strikingly different from the other three courtrooms at JJC.
The first thing a visitor to the new courtroom might notice are the windows letting in the natural light lacking in the other JJC courtrooms. Judge Ward said the windows are one of many features in the new courtroom’s design that help to create a fitting environment for a Children’s Court.
Space to arrange tables in a circle is among the features that make the new JJC Courtroom appropriate for a Children’s Court.
Other features include room for arranging tables in circular fashion, and a modular jury box that can be removed to allow for even more open seating space for hearings in which juries are not involved.

This design will be especially helpful for hearings related to sensitive matters, such as child welfare cases, Judge Ward said. “It will allow for creating a more trauma-informed setting, putting people in a circle where the parties can feel more like equal partners in a discussion rather than having seating dictated by the courtroom layout,” she said. “This is a much more appropriate, and much safer, environment for hearings in which people sometimes, understandably, become emotional.”
Judge Ward credits the Bernalillo County Facilities staff as well as the project’s architects, Studio Southwest, and Anchor Built, the construction contractor, with bringing this environment to life. “They really grasped our concerns about maintaining courthouse safety while also creating a comfortable environment,” Judge Ward said. “The contractor was amazing, even operating under COVID-19 constraints. There was excellent communication throughout this project between the county, contractor and the court in creating this space that was so desperately needed.”
Judge Ward is extremely grateful to the Bernalillo County Commission for providing funding for this project, County Manager Julie Morgas Baca, Mary Murnane, the county’s Director of Fleet and Facilities Management and Cliff Youngberg, the county’s Building Management and Maintenance Program Manager, who steered the project to completion.
She also wants to acknowledge all SJDC staff who had a part in the project—including former Chief Judge Nan Nash and former CEO Jim Noel, whose early advocacy of the project helped “fulfill a great need for the public and court staff.”
